The Matrix: DualForce
by Bennycraze2K3
Summary: Agents suddenly have the ability to fight Neo more effectively. It turns out that the creator of the Matrix enhanced them to kill Neo. Neo finds out there is a second "one", and must face him in a final showdown.
1. Chapter I

Chapter I

            Neo checked his watch. Late. People walked past him, not even paying notice to his black clothing and sunglasses. Their daily lives went on, day by day – without the knowledge of their blindness.

Neo paced on the street corner. "Where is he?" He asked to the sky. He looked to his left – vendors at their stalls selling fruits and newspapers. On his right, lines of bright yellow cabs and people walking or riding their bikes on the pavement.

He checked his watch again. 10:23. Eight minutes late. Neo leaned against the marble support of the bank behind him, and smoothly took off his sunglasses. He looked across the street at the passers-by as Morpheus walked up behind him.  "You're late." He sighed.

"It's not my fault, Neo." Morpheus laughed.

"Well then whose fault is it?" Neo joked. They shook hands and walked the street together. "So what have you been up to?"

"We've been rather busy," more people passed them without taking notice. "People can be so stubborn."

"What do you mean?"

Morpheus stopped and turned to Neo. "I have told thirteen people in the last three days the truth. Not one chose the red pill."

"It's so utterly obvious. Why are people so blind?"

"Because they refuse to accept the truth. They have no reason to leave the life they live. They don't _want_ to." He turned and began to walk through the oncoming hoard of people.

"Why don't they want to?"

"I just told you why."

"You said they have no reason to leave the life they live!" He protested.

"And they don't. At least from their perspective."

"From ours they do." Neo then turned his body to wedge between two people. "And that's what matters, right?

"No, Neo. That is not what matters." He walked around a group of people talking by a building.  "Our perspective means nothing. The truth is all that matters."

They walked for a few more minutes, saying nothing. Neo looked at Morpheus, he was a pace faster than him. "Where are we going?"

"To a phone."

"Why?"

"I need to show you something. Something you need to know."

Neo stopped as Morpheus turned right into an alley. "What do I need to know? What's going on?" He yelled as he ran after Morpheus. He ran into the alley just in time to see the edge of Morpheus' coat go into a steel door. "Alright.." he sighed and followed.

He walked up the stone steps, his hand gliding softly on the steel handrail. He opened the door. It was dark inside, he could barely see anything. He stepped inside. "Morpheus?" He whispered. There was a dark hallway before him, and he could see that it shortly ended and split. He walked cautiously to the end of the hallway. "Morpheus?" he asked softly. "Where are you?" There was a wall before him, and a hallway on the left and one on the right.

"I'm in here, Neo." 

Neo turned to the right, in response to Morpheus' voice. He could see there was a lit room twenty feet ahead on the left. He walked a bit anxiously to the door. "Morpheus?" He turned into the room and squinted, blinded by a bright light in the room. His eyes adjusted, and he could see that there was no one in the room. He paused for a moment, looking at the bland yellow walls that surrounded him. He turned back to the door and walked out. He turned to head back to the intersection of hallways but was suddenly grabbed from behind. 

A strong arm found its way around his neck and covered his mouth. His other arm was taken and slammed against his own back as he was thrown against the wall. He was helpless. 

Neo then heard a firm, familiar voice from behind him.

"Hello, Mr. Anderson."


	2. Chapter II

Chapter II

            "What do you want?" Neo Protested

            "Simply to educate you."

            "There's nothing you know that I don't."

            "Please, Mr. Anderson, no need to get angry." Agent Smith called out a word that Neo couldn't recognize, and before long, two agents held him firmly by the arms. "Take him to the back room. Keep him there until I come for him." He ordered them.

            "Yes, sir." One responded as he punched Neo in the side and dragged him down the hallway.

            Neo's body flinched in pain. "What's going on?" Morpheus demanded. Link sat at the main console intently.

            "Neo's been captured. They're taking him into what appears to be a basement." He clicked away at his control panels. _Two agents. One Neo. He could take them out easily! After all, he is the one._ He was distracted by Neo's body jolting in his seat. 

            "They're beating him. Link, is there a phone near to his location?"

            Link tapped intently at his keyboard. "One. On the level above him."

            "Give him a little ring to let him know we are aware of where he is." Morpheus ordered.

            _Wham!_ An agent's fist found Neo's nose. His hands were tied behind the chair, he was stuck. _Wham!_ Another blow to the face. _I have to get out of here, now._ _Wham!_ A punch to the stomach. He was feeling ill. 

            He raised his head. He had remembered who he was. _How stupid can I possibly be? I am the one._ He closed his eyes. The chains that tied his hands shook, and disappeared. He was free. _Ring!_ He thought he had imagined it. _Ring!_ There it was again. It was above him, he could hear it. _Ring!_ They knew where he was. 

            He opened his eyes and saw an agents fist. He quickly moved his head aside, grabbed his arm, and flipped him over his back. The second agent, who was sitting at a table in the near corner, stood and aimed his pistol. Agent Smith's voice could be heard in the distance: "What's going on down there?"

            The agent fired. Neo concentrated and held up his hand. The bullet slowed to a stop right in front of his hand. The agent was amazed, his mouth agape. Neo moved his hand in a circular motion, the bullet followed this motion. It was now aimed at the agent. Neo then jerked his hand forward in a sudden movement, and the bullet went flying towards the agent, plummeting into his chest. He fell to the ground, dead.

            Neo brushed off his shirt, thinking the job was done. When suddenly he was grabbed from behind – the other agent. Neo gave him a quick elbow to the stomach, then a straight kick to the chest. The agent flew backwards into the wall, breaking the cement. He fell and then stood as if nothing had just happened. He then ran at Neo, throwing punches that Neo could barely keep up with. _Head, shoulder, leg, stomach. _Neo thought. Then the agent connected – a powerful hit to the chest. Neo flew backwards and slid along the ground until he met the wall. _Ring!_ He heard it. It was directly above him. He jumped and flew right through the ceiling. Dust fell on the agent who looked on, dumbfounded.

            "What's going on in here?" Smith asked as he ran into the toom. "Where is Anderson?"

            "Sir.. I.."

            "You lost him?"

            "He flew through the ceiling, sir."

            "Imbicile!" Smith slapped the agent across the face and ran out of the room.

            Neo landed just next to the phone. It was still ringing. _Good_. He thought. He quickly turned his head as he heard Agent Smith yelling as he entered the large library. "I'm going to get you Anderson!"

He slowed as he finished his next sentence: "I'm going to.. going to.. get.." 

            Neo was Gone.


	3. Chapter III

Chapter III

            "How is this possible?" Neo asked in a panic.

            "We don't know how." Link sighed.  "..We can only guess." 

            "I don't understand it either." Morpheus said as he stood from his seat at the circular table. 

            "I could barely keep up with him.." Neo said as he put his forehead into his palm.

            "It's not your fault, Neo. Whoever did this obviously knows what he's doing." Link said as he tapped away at a hand PADD.

            "Maybe it was a hacker." Morpheus suggested.

            "A hacker doesn't have the ability to alter the Matrix." Link replied.

            "Could it have been an agent?" 

            "They don't have the knowledge." Link refuted.

            "We're thinking small," Neo sighed. "We need to think on a larger scale." He paused. There was silence in the small room, the only noise that could be heard was the _whirring_ of the computers in the next room. "Now. Who would be able to change the Agent's programming?"

            Again the room was struck with sudden silence. It continued for some time, until Morpheus turned from looking out of the window. "The Creator."

            "What?" Neo asked.

            "The creator? We don't even know who that is!" Link yelled.

            "If there is something created, the Matrix, hence there must be a creator. We know what the Matrix is used for. But who is the creator, and who has the ability to alter it's programming?"

            "We know that the machines control it." Link noted. "But they don't have the knowledge to create the intricate programming necessary to alter the Matrix. The machines are created for a sole purpose.. to dominate. Not to create a perfected digital world."

            "Are you suggesting the creator is a human?" Morpheus asked.

            "It is a possibility – a big one." 

            "Why would he want to enhance the Agent's abilities?"

            The room went dead silent.

            Neo stared at the smooth black surface of the round table. "He knows…" 

            "What?" Morpheus asked as he moved to the seat next to Neo and sat.

            "He knows about us."

            "Impossible."

            "..He knows about me."

            "Neo, that's impossible!"

            "Somehow he's made it possible." Neo looked into Morpheus' deep brown eyes. "He knows I am the One."

            Link reclined in his chair and sighed. "That would explain the enhancement made to the Agent's programming."

            "But why would he want to kill me?" Neo yelled as he stood.

            "The same reason he would kill any one of us, tenfold. All of us know the truth and want to spread it." He looked up at Neo. "On the other hand, you know the truth, want to spread it, and you are the chosen one. Those are three extremely valid reasons for him wanting to take your life."

            Neo stood and started to walk out of the room. "Neo?" Morpheus asked. 

            He stopped at the door and looked back. 

            "What are you doing?"

            "I'm going back."

            "Neo, we need you here.."

            "I'm going back in!" He charged out of the room. Morpheus stood and followed. Link sat in his seat, and then realized he was needed in the other room in order for Neo to enter the Matrix. He lurched from his seat and ran to his station.

            Neo laid himself down in the reclining chair. "Neo. Think about what you're doing."

            "I don't need to think."

            "Neo, you must think about every decision you make. I know that you already have chosen the actions you are going to take once you're in there. Now tell them to me."

            Neo looked at morpheus, not knowing how to feel. Was he confused? Or was he afraid? He didn't know. He didn't care. "I'm going to get information."

            "What kind of information?"

            "I'm going to find out what we need to know."

            Morpheus sighed, and nodded to Link, who initiated to Matrix. 

            Neo flinched as the extension inserted itself into his neck. He closed his eyes – overwhelmed by darkness. He was entering the Matrix.


	4. Chapter IV: Into the Lion's Den

Chapter IV

            A dark figure stood in the doorway of an office complex. He could see the street – the people, the places, and the cars zooming softly by. His eyes shifted from scene to scene: A woman exiting a store and walking down the street, a man parking his car, and a young man being thrown out of a pub. He watched the masses of people walk down the street, like a tidal wave of bodies making their way to an unknown beach.  

            He was standing on a round platform in front of an office building he had randomly picked. He liked to stand, and watch the people go on with their nightly lives. He didn't like the light. It was bright and uncomfortable. He thrived in the dark, it was his passion and his life. Or at least the life he thought he was living.

            A week before he had been called by a man who goes by the name of "Morhpeus". He was taken to meet him, and that is where he learned of the possibility that this life wasn't a real one. 

            He sneered as he looked at the people passing by him. He leaned back a little bit more so his face was more hidden by the shadows. He again started to observe the people, looking past the rounded supports of the towering building above him. Bright lights flashed here and there, some from cars and some from buildings. Nevertheless, He hated them.

            Something caught his eye. He stopped leaning against the wall and quickly stood erect. _What was that?_ He thought. He peered anxiously at the alley between the buildings opposite him. _There it was again. I could swear that was movement._ He walked forward and into the vast wave of people moving mechanically down the sidewalk. They seemed to break around him, as if he were a mighty rock in a stream. 

            He stopped as he saw another movement. _Slower, this time. He must have noticed me. I'll have to be more discrete._ He crossed the street and vanished into the onrush of people.

                                                                        ****

            "Neo?" Morpheus' voice came fuzzily over the slim earpiece fitted into Neo's ear. "Neo?"

            Neo quickly squatted in a dark corner. "What is it?"

            "When would you care to fill me in on your plan?"

            "As  soon as I'm done with it."  

            Morpheus sighed. "Neo, you will tell me what you are doing." He paused. "Now."

            Neo took a deep breath and peered around the corner. Streams of people were moving on the side of the road. Normal. "I'm just going to go check something out. Link, can you give me the location where I was held by Smith?"

            "Neo," Morpheus started, but was cut off by Neo.

            "Thanks, Link." Neo pressed a button on his watch.

            "Neo, Be.."

            "Careful. I know. No one has even seen me," he peered past the corner at the street again. "Except for one man who was standing across the street. I think he saw me. I crouched in the corner, and then checked on him. He was gone."

            There was silence on the comm. All that could be heard was Morpheus' heavy breathing. 

            "Proceed, but at extreme caution."

            "Neo out."

                                                                        ****

            Morpheus took off the headset and set them on the surface next to Link. "You keep an eye on him." His tone was deathly serious. "If anything – I repeat, _anything_ – happens… you tell me right away."

            "Yes, sir." Link replied.

            Morpheus turned and walked out of the control room. "If anything happens to him.." The doors shut behind him with a _bang_.

                                                                        ****

            Neo crouched next to a bush. _There it is._  A tall brick building stood proudly before him. _This is the place._ He snuck up to the back door. Put his hand softly on the curved iron handle. _Creeaaaaakkkkk!_ The iron screamed as he turned it gently. "Oh yeah!" Neo whispered as he snapped his fingers. He walked past the door and kneeled in a dark corner. 

            He put his finger in his ear. "Link?"

            "Yeah, buddy?" He replied.

            "I'm going to need some guns."

            "What would you like to order?" Link asked in his best French Waiter impression.

            "I'll take two Desert Eagles, and multiple clips."

            Suddenly a silver Deagle appeared in front of him in a small flash of green light. Then three loaded clips appeared next to it. He picked up the Deagle and inserted a clip. He placed the other four in his coat pocket. He paused.

            "Link, I asked for two."

            "Oh," Link replied. "Sorry."

            Another appeared right next to his leg. He picked it up, inserted a clip, and placed it in his left breast holster. He placed his other Deagle in his right holster.

            "Link, I need two mp5 Navy's. Extra clips."

            Two Mp5s appeared in front of him, which he loaded and placed in his coat pockets.

            "And an M-16 assault rifle. Extra clips."

            It appeared next to him, and he loaded it, placing the extra clips in his pant pocket. "Link, Silencer."

            A small silencer appeared in front of him. He picked it up, and screwed it onto the end of the M16. He was ready to go into the Lion's den. He opened the door, and went in.

                                                                        ****

            Within a minute, a dark figure silently slid to the rear door, watching for anyone who might see him. He grasped the handle silently, and slipped inside.


End file.
